1
Open the analysis window
Open your Lightless window and find the small icon that looks like a person with a gear beside them. Click the button that says Chara Data Analysis.
Before you walk in
The syncshell
Our shell carries the mods worn across our venues. Lightless Sync and PlayerSync share the same one, so whichever you run, these are your details. Then take ten minutes to compress yourself, and nobody in the room drops a frame because of you.
Syncshell ID
nocturn
Password
nocturnvenue
The shell is emptied every week so there is always room for someone new. If you come often, ask to be pinned in our Discord and you will be left in across the clear.
500 MB
Your download size
This is what everyone standing near you has to pull down before they can see you at all. Compressing your textures is what brings it down, and it costs nothing in looks.
500k
Your triangle count
A vanilla character sits between 5k and 20k. A built one usually lands around 350k. Past 500k you start getting warnings raised about you, and people pause you to save their own frames.
Once
How often you do this
You compress a mod one time and it stays compressed. Ten minutes now, and you never think about it again unless you install something new.
The buttons are named differently in each plugin, so follow the one you actually run. This is Lightless Sync.
2
Start the analysis
Click Start analysis (missing entries). Your current size is shown here too. Write it down, you will want to compare at the end.
3
See what you are about to compress
The middle of the window lists your mods, with the texture path and the slot each one affects.
Hover the path in the Texture column to find out which mod it belongs to.
4
Choose, then compress
Compress every clothing mod. That is where nearly all of your weight is, and nobody will ever see the difference.
Hair, skin, scales and face are your call. Leave the detailed ones alone: a sculpt loses too much.
Once your selection is made, click Compress xx selected. It takes a few minutes.
5
Check your work
Run the analysis at the top again and compare with the figure you wrote down. Aim for under 500 MB.
Compressing brings the megabytes down, never the triangles. If your triangle count is still high, open Models in the same window and use Model Decimation at the default 80 percent.
Decimation does not go backwards. Back your mods up before you run
it, and keep the original
.pmp or .ttmp2
so you can reinstall anything that comes out wrong.
Written from the guide by Fawn, whose original lives at compressyourself.carrd.co. Screenshots are hers.
PlayerSync compresses on its own server as well, but that does nothing for the memory your own machine spends on you. This does.
1
Open Character Data Analysis
Type /psync in game chat to open the plugin.
You can reach the analysis screen two ways, from the top bar of the main window or from the settings. Both land in the same place.
2
Run an analysis
Click Start analysis. It reads everything you are currently wearing and tells you what it costs in video memory. Note the figure, you will compare at the end.
3
Find your textures
Open the tex tab to list every texture you are carrying. Click a file hash to see which mod it belongs to, so you know what you are about to touch.
4
Convert to BC7
Not every texture can be converted. Look for the A8R8G8B8 ones first, that is where nearly all the savings are.
Tick Enable BC7 Conversion Mode, tick each texture you want, then click Start conversion.
This cannot be undone. Keep the original mod file
(
.pmp, .ttmp2) so you can reload it into
Penumbra if something comes out wrong. Colorsets and heavy
transparencies are the ones that sometimes do.
5
Analyse again
Once the conversion is done you may see a lot of red files. That is normal. Click Start analysis at the top again for a fresh, accurate count.
Aim for under 500 MB and under 500k triangles. Compressing brings the megabytes down but never the triangles: those come from the model itself, so a mod still heavy after this has to be swapped for a lighter one.
Written from the PlayerSync documentation. Screenshots are theirs.
A MCDF is a snapshot of how your character looks right now, saved as one file. Send it to someone and they can load you straight into GPose without you being online. This is the PlayerSync route.
1
Open the plugin
Type /psync, then click the icon on the right that
looks like a person with a gear.
2
Open the Character Data Hub
Click the long Character Data Hub button that appears under the icon. It can open collapsed in a corner of your screen, so if nothing seems to happen, go looking for it.
3
Go to Data Creation
Open the Data Creation tab. You are offered MCD and MCDF. Take MCDF, that is the one you can hand to someone else.
4
Agree, describe, export
Open the What is this? dropdown and agree to the terms. Write a short description of the look, so whoever receives it knows which one it is, then click Export Character as MCDF.
It saves you exactly as you are at that moment, so put your outfit on first.
5
Pick where it lands
One last window asks where to save the file. Choose somewhere you will find again, then send it over.
Written from the PlayerSync documentation. Screenshots are theirs.
House rules
Joining the shell means accepting these.
NSFW is allowed in here
Joining means you are fine with seeing it. Nothing more is expected of you, and nothing less is hidden from you.
Allowed is not the same as owed
Respect everyone. If someone is not interested, that is the end of it. Nobody gets followed, nobody gets asked twice, and nobody has to justify a no.
No naked lalafell, ever
Instant ban, no discussion, and it is reported. The same goes for anything that reads as a child, whatever the backstory behind it. There is no version of this we will look at.
Compress your mods
Dozens of us load each other at the same time. Under 500 MB and under 500k triangles and nobody drops a frame because of you. The walkthrough is at the top of this page.
Keep your effects to yourself
No flashbangs, explosions or screen shake. No torches or flares left lying around, they stay in memory and sometimes never leave. Nothing whose sound carries across the venue, and no music on your dance mods: nearly all of them let you turn it off, and it fights the DJ.
Come dressed
Installing mods or swapping glamours in a full room makes everyone in it download you all over again. Set your outfits up at home, try new things at the inn.
You may be photographed
Our photographer shoots the room as it is, without warning. Joining means you are fine appearing in our pictures.
Do not talk about mods in the open
Square Enix does not allow mods or third party tools, and a public conversation is what gets accounts actioned. Keep it to the shell and to our Discord.
We can remove you
Breaking any of this gets you taken out of the shell, and kept out. We would rather lose one person than the room.